Have An Audible Summer

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Flash-based MP3 players can be a fun and inexpensive way to enjoy your digital music on the go. But there's more than just music out there. Why not get keep your brain informed, as well as entertained, with a good audiobook from Audible.com? Students can get a jump start on summer reading (Hemingway, Dickens, and Austen titles are all available), grads can keep that learning momentum going so their brains don't turn to mush (think Chomsky or Colbert), and Dads can listen to radio favorites (This American Life, Fresh Air).

We've compiled a few of our favorite flash-based MP3 players that support content from Audible.com. Some even come with a complimentary audiobook. Don't worry, they all work with regular MP3s too, so you can rock out to Zeppelin, Kanye West, or James Taylor while you rake the yard. One thing to note: They all work equally well with Macs and PCs, since iTunes is cross-platform (for the iPod nano). The other players can work just like USB thumb drives, meaning you can drag and drop music right onto them without any software (though they also work with Windows Media Player). And as for online services besides Audible, you're locked into the iTunes Music Store with the iPod, while the other twonamely the Creative Zen Nano Plus and Dell DJ Ditty give you access to WMA-based subscription and download services like Napster (but not iTunes).

Also keep in mind that audiobooks can take up quite a bit of storage space on your player, but Audible offers several different compression levels (numbered 1 through 4) that can help you fit more on your player. The highest quality setting gives you about 14.4MB per hour of audio; each step down in quality takes up half the space of the step above it. Since audiobooks are usually only voice recordings, you won't need the highest possible audio quality.

The iPod nano has been our Editors' Choice for quite some time. Available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB models, it supports Audible content via a plug-in for iTunes, available for free at Audible.com. This isn't the cheapest or most full-featured player, but there's a galaxy of accessories available for it, including a host of boomboxes for sharing your music in or out of doors.

The Creative Zen Nano Plus has also been around for a while, but it's still a solid player, and it works very well with the AudibleManager software available at Audible.com. It has some nice extras too, like an FM tuner, and voice/line-in/FM recording, though its LCD is monochrome. It's available in 10 different colors and comes in capacities up to 1GB. It also runs on a single standard triple-A battery, which can be convenient for those constantly on the go. There's even a cool travel speaker available for it, the Creative TravelDock 900.

And although Dell recently exited the hard drive-based MP3 player market, it still sells the 512MB flash-based Dell DJ Ditty. This player is somewhat short on features and has only a monochrome LCD, though it does have a strong FM tuner and comes with decent earbuds. It's very small and light, and it's pretty cheap, too. Transferring audiobooks to the Ditty via the AudibleManager software from Audible.com is a snap, but make sure you use one of Audible's more compact compression formats so you can fit more on the player.

Being able to listen to books on your MP3 player makes a nice change from rocking to the latest hits. Any one of these audible.com-friendly devices could have you catching up on your "reading" in no time. Read on to find the one that's right for you.